Airmen travel to Rwanda, teach maintenance management

  • Published
  • By John Ingle
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) --  Members of the Rwanda air force paid a visit to the leaders in C-130 maintenance training at the 373rd Training Squadron Det. 4 at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., which is part of the 982nd Training Group here, which turned into a follow up visit for two Det. 4 members to help build up the fledgling air force.

Capt. Brian DeBruhl, the 373rd TRS Det. 4 commander, and Tech. Sgt. Brandon Macken, a 373rd TRS Det. 4 instructor, traveled to Rwanda Sept. 13 through 17 to discuss the intricacies of maintenance and logistics and conduct a maintenance management training course with the Rwandan air force.

Rwandan air force leaders are exploring the possibility of expanding their rotary-wing only air force to include fixed-wing assets.

"They (have) the opportunity to write the future of their air force," Captain DeBruhl said. "They are the (Eddie) Rickenbackers and (Hap) Arnolds of their air force."

Captain DeBruhl said the Rwanda air force has the capability to maintain aircraft. He described the air force as battle tested, a result of years of civil war and the horrific genocide of the mid-90s that claimed the lives of more than one million people.

"Think about how our Air Force grew up," the captain said, describing the maturation from the Wright Flyer to current technologies such as stealth aircraft. "They're definitely eager to get to that level too."

The first step to achieving that status began in August when members of the Rwanda air force toured maintenance and logistics facilities at the detachment and the 19th Airlift Wing at Little Rock AFB. Captain DeBruhl described the Rwandan officers as "kids at a candy store" because of the enormity of the operation and what it takes to support 90 aircraft at the base.

Those basic processes that are taught to U.S. Air Force Airmen from their first day of training is what's missing from the Rwanda air force, Sergeant Macken said.

"Their air force is at its infancy, so they don't have those (standard operating procedures)," he said. "They know what they want, they just don't know how to get there."

The captain and sergeant traveled to Rwanda in September to help the Rwanda air force begin its journey down the road to becoming the air force it wants to be. What the two found when they arrived was a capable, but unorganized operation.

"They know how to operate," he said. "They know how to keep their aircraft technically working."

Captain DeBruhl and Sergeant Macken toured the Rwanda air force's facilities and adapted their training course to fit the need of the customer.

Captain DeBruhl said they were able to identify specific areas the Rwanda air force could improve and do it at little to no cost.

Some of those ideas included using a chit system to track various tools to repair an aircraft. The Rwanda air force, at the time of the visit, didn't have a mechanism in place to complete this simple task.

They also recommend the Rwanda air force cross train their maintainers to provide more flexibility within the air force.

Sergeant Macken said he felt the overall experience with the Rwandan air force was a success.

"Though our military cultures are very different, we shared a common goal to make both our air forces better," he said. "While they learned from us how to better manage their fleet, I learned from them not to take so much for granted. The 16 individuals we worked with that week will shape the future of the Rwandan air force, and it was an honor to be a part of that."